Role Conflict: Avoid Leadership Mishaps by Wearing the Right Hat for the Right Occasion

Academicians, including chief residents, serve many roles to many people: evaluators, coaches, mentors, supervisors, and disciplinarians, sometimes to the same person! Role conflict can be stressful; for example, in a conversation assuming the counterpart is wearing a friend hat and instead he or she dons a supervisor hat. Other times, chief residents successfully blend multiple roles such as friend, advocate, and coach. This workshop examines role conflict and empowers chief residents to navigate high-stakes scenarios through mock skits and case-based small group discussions by applying a three-step "hat trick" framework: roles, rungs, and risk. After a skit about a case of a chief resident who falls into the trap of role conflict, presenters will identify the missteps that occurred to launch a brainstorm of the many roles academicians play. Presenters will discuss the frequent spot for chief residents in the middle rungs of a leadership ladder, labeling "rungs" as up, down, and lateral work, then identify "risk" of the scenario by plotting several example issues on the urgency and importance scale. To apply this framework, participants will break into small groups to discuss several high-stakes scenarios, identifying the involved roles, rungs, and risk to guide how to best enter these conversations. Presenters will end by summarizing actionable takeaways to reduce role conflict